The present invention relates to a monitor unit including a display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and being driven by a battery, a base unit for transmitting image information to the monitor unit, and an information terminal unit including a display such as an LCD and being driven by a battery.
The present applicant has proposed, as one kind of radio LAN (Local Area Network) organized in a limited area such as in a house, a system composed of a base unit and a monitor unit, wherein the base unit functions as an information source, for example, by a configuration that a tuner for receiving television broadcasting is contained or connected in or to the base unit and a telephone line is connected to the base unit via a modem; and a monitor unit is configured to transmit a command to the base unit by radio communication between the base unit and the monitor unit, receive information such as an image and a voice from a television or an image from the Internet, and display the image on a display while output the voice from a speaker or a headphone.
FIG. 8 shows one example of this system, in which a monitor unit 100 is provided with an LCD 101, speakers 103 and 104, and so-called patch antennas 105 and 106 for radio communication between a base unit 200 and the monitor unit 100.
The base unit 200 is provided with a tuner 201 for receiving television broadcasting, a modem 202, and so-called patch antennas 205 and 206 for radio communication between the monitor unit 100 and the base unit 200. The tuner 201 is connected to an antenna 1 for receiving television broadcasting, and the modem 202 is connected to a telephone line 2, so that the monitor unit 100 receives television broadcasting by radio communication between the base unit 200 and the monitor unit 100, and accesses the Internet to transmit and receive e-mails.
An external apparatus 3 such as a video deck, a DVD player, or a tuner for receiving digital CS broadcasting or BS digital broadcasting can be connected to the base unit 200, and the monitor 100 can receive image information or audio information obtained from the external apparatus 3 by radio communication between the base unit 200 and the monitor unit 100. A remote control transmitter 5 such as an AV mouse can be connected to the base unit 200. In this case, remote control signal light transmitted from the remote control transmitter 5 is received by a remote control receiver 4 provided on the external apparatus 3, so that the external apparatus 3 can be controlled by the monitor unit 100.
According to the above-described system, a user can fixedly dispose the base unit 200 at a location in a living room or the like and carry the monitor unit 100 to an arbitrary location in a house or a garden, and at the arbitrary location, the user can achieve various functions of, for example, receiving television broadcasting, and accessing the Internet to transmit or receive e-mails, by using the monitor 100 located within reach.
In the above-described system, the monitor unit 100 is driven by a battery. In this case, however, it becomes a key issue how to charge the battery. The battery can be charged by using a special charging unit; however, in this case, there occurs a problem that the number of units constituting the entire system is increased, to raise the cost of the entire system, and also there occurs an inconvenience that the monitor unit 100 is not available, and more concretely, the monitor unit 100 does not allow a user to view an image at the time of charging using the special charging unit.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a system composed of the above-described monitor unit and base unit, wherein a battery for driving the monitor unit can be charged without the need of provision of any special charging unit other than the monitor unit and base unit, and the monitor unit is kept available even at the time of charging, just like the monitor unit at the time of non-charging.
Like the above-described monitor unit, various kinds of information terminal units of a type including a display such as an LCD and being driven by a battery, such as a portable telephone, have been developed and commercially available. In such an information terminal unit, a mechanism of mounting and holding a battery has been often configured by inserting the battery in a battery containing portion from one side surface of the unit and mounting a cover onto the battery containing portion.
To realize an information terminal unit having various functions, however, it is required to provide various knobs and terminals even on a side surface portion of the unit. For example, in an information terminal unit including a display, speakers, and various operating keys on a front surface portion, it has been required to provide, on a side surface portion, a terminal connected to a headphone, a slot in which a memory (recording medium) such as xe2x80x9cMemory Stickxe2x80x9d (registered tradename by the present applicant), and a jog dial for performing various operations.
In this case, it may be preferable or required to adopt a structure that a battery containing portion be provided on a back surface portion of the unit, for example, at a central portion in place of the conventional structure that a battery is inserted in a battery containing portion from one side surface of the unit. To realize such a structure, it becomes a key issue how to mount and hold a battery in the battery containing portion in the back surface portion of the unit.
Accordingly, a second object of the present invention is to provide an information terminal unit including a display on a front surface portion and being driven by a battery, wherein in the case of containing the battery in a back surface portion of the unit, the battery can be certainly mounted and held in a battery containing portion provided in the back surface portion of the unit.
According to the present invention, there is provided a monitor unit, in which a display is provided on a front surface portion and a battery is mounted in a back surface portion or another portion, characterized in that
a groove portion, in which a holding rail provided on a bottom portion of a front surface portion of a base unit for transmitting image information to the monitor unit is to be inserted, is formed in a bottom surface of the monitor unit; and a charge terminal to be connected to a charge terminal provided on the holding rail of the base unit is provided in the groove portion of the monitor unit.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a base unit for transmitting image information to a monitor unit, the monitor unit including a display provided on a front surface portion and a battery mounted on a back surface portion or another portion, characterized in that
a holding rail to be inserted in a groove portion formed in a bottom surface of the monitor unit is provided on a bottom portion of a front surface portion of the base unit; and a charge terminal to be connected to a charge terminal provided in the groove portion of the monitor unit is provided on the holding rail
With this configuration, a battery for driving the monitor unit can be charged without the need of provision of any special charging unit other than the monitor unit and the base unit, and the monitor unit is kept available even at the time of charging, just like the monitor unit at the time of non-charging.
According to the present invention, there is also provided an information terminal unit including a display on a front surface portion and being driven by a battery, characterized in that
a battery containing groove portion is formed in a back surface portion and a battery mounting portion is provided on one end side of the battery containing groove portion; a battery cover is provided so as to be mounted in the battery containing groove portion in a state in which a battery has been inserted in the battery containing groove portion from a rear side of the back surface portion, being slid in the battery containing groove portion in a direction parallel to a screen of the display, and mounted in the battery mounting portion; and a rib for pressing the battery on the battery mounting portion side is formed on a back surface of the battery cover.
With this configuration, a battery can be certainly mounted and held in the battery containing portion provided in the back surface portion of the information terminal unit with a simple structure.